Repeater for rolling mills



1928 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Nqv. 10, 1931. .JOHNSON REPEATER FOR ROLLING MILLS Filed March zo.

NOV. l0, 1931.- JOHNSON REPEATER FOR ROLLING MLLs Filed March 20, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 K mm. um Nw Si x hhil .w l /4/ 1 a mw E mm s u INVENTOR L. JOHNSON Nov. l0, 1931.

REPEATER FOR ROLLING MILLS Filed March 20, l928 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR @L www "Wi, d

Patented Nov. 10, 1931 UNITED s'IA'rEs PATENT lOFFICE LANE JonNsoN, or INGRAN, PENNsYLvANIAgAss'IGNonT To 'UNITED ENGINEERING alroUNnaY coMPANILoF PITTSBURGH, PENNsYLvAN,IA,v A CORPORATION or PENN- j BYIN'ANIA` REPEATER Pon ROLLING MILLS 'Application led AMarch 20, 1928. Serial No. 263,098. t

My invention relates to repeaters for rolling mills, such as rod and wire mills.

Repeaters are used on rolling millstoguide the front end of the rod or wire being rolled from one mill stand to vanother when the mill -stands are set so that'a loop can beformed in the rod or wire.

Repeaters, as heretoforeconstructed, have been limited toy aV definite .spacing of roll grooves, 1and the flexibility 'of themill was therefore quite limited... Inasmuchr as the wearing-away of grooves on adjacent rolls is not constant, and since the. life of such grooves, when run continuously, is a .matter ofa few hours, it is highly .desirable that a repeater be capable of relatively quick ad- "justment between any possible lateralv combinationof grooves in adjacent rolls.

' `I provide a repeater that is adjustable for substantially all possible groove combinations on the rolls. It is adjustable, as a whole, in a direction substantially parallel tothe axes of the rolls with which it cooperates for maintaining a definite span `or space between the grooves in use. Slight variations .in the span between different groove combinations are made by shifting one or 4more guides pivyotallymounted at one or bothends of thefre- -peater. Major adjustments 'between *groovecombinations are made by inserting sections of different lengths into lthe repeater. The repeater is made U-shaped, and such section,

is inserted inthe base of the U.

By reason of the fact that rodorwire is frequentlydischarged from one set of rolls `at a speed that is higher than the speed with` which it is drawn into ythe succeeding rolls, due, in part, to its elongation in the rolls, loops of hot metal are formed, the lengths of which exceed the length of the path through v the repeater. Consequently, a tendency exists for the material, if confined within the repeater, to buckle or tangle within the re-` peater.

To avoid such buckling or tangling in the repeater, I fprovide a portion of the repeater wall that is comparatively low and odset relaf tive to the curve of the adjacent wall portions. Upon the formation of a loop in the J repeater, the material moves yinto the offset` thereoffcauses itto Snap or w methodjof mounting;

portion, and-further bucklin gip out of the repeater. When such: armovement vis once Started, the escaping looptends to enlarge itself and extends alongand across the .top

ofthe repeater wall. The loopescapes from j the removable sectionthrough va slot. The

slot is o'verhungby a `shield orY apron that serves to hold and direct thematerial when an endvis traversingk the" section, but the shield or apron ydoes not interfere with the escape of the loop when an excess of'material accumulates inthe repeatclmand the whip-v ping movement has `been initiated. Provi- I'sion is made for guiding the material,

whether traversingthe repeater or travelling in a loop outside of the repeater, to a guide for lintroducing `it, to the subsequent entrance rolls. l

y The accompanying drawings illustrate the present preferred embodiment,v of the invention, inwhich t Y Figure' le. is a plan view of a repeaterfor a rolling mill embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is an end 'View of the closed end of the repeater; j j ,.1 v

Figurei is a side view thereof; ',Figure 4 is an end view of .one embodiment of thekgremovable section of the repeater;

Figure 5 is an enlarged plan view of the section shown inj Figure 4 illustrating its Figure 6 is a plan view of a modified form of Vremovable, section; V v

Figures 7, 8 and 9 Vare sectional views of the removable section taken along the section lines VIL-VII, .VIIIQWVIII and IX-IX of Figure 5, respectively; an d j Figure l0 is a fragmentary view of la pivotallymounted guide `forthe repeater ends'. Referring toFiguresl to 3, a repeater2 is disposed between exit rolls 4 and entrance rolls 5 in a yrolling mill. The repeater 2 serves to guide material, .such jas rods and wire, discharged from'the exit rolls 4 and introduce it Ato the entrance `rolls 5.` The rolls A4-and k,5;vmay be of any commercial type and 'areillustrated in Figure 3'as being lembodied in a three-high mill. Each of the or tangling 1liA rolls 4 enters -a guide 11 having a groove 6 is a matter of hours, greater iexibility and efliciency of a mill is secured `by, providing the rolls Vwith many grooves and also by providing means for adapting the repeater 2 to function with any possible combination of grooves between the i'olls 4 and 5.

The rolls 4 and 5 are ,each providecl-with a stripping and guiding device 7 adjustably mounted on a cross bar-8 extending between stanchionsv 9 in the. mill frame. The vstripping and guiding devices 7 extend to the frontA edges ofthe mill'frames 10, shown diagrammatically infF-igures 1 and 3. The details of` the-rolls 4k or 5, the stripping devices 7 and the mills 1t) 'may beof any preferred form, as they constitute no part of the present invention except in sofar as they are necessary to' complete the combinations hereinafter described and claimed. I

Rod or wire material discharged from` the stripping device 7 cooperating with the exit 12 atthe top thereof. The guide 11 is adjustably supported from a bed plate 13 by a frame 14. The guide 11 is secured to the frame 14 by bolts 15 anchored -in intersecting slots 16, formed in flanges 17 on the guide 11,- and slots 1S, formed in aiiange 19 on lthe adjacent repeater section. -The fiange 19 is secured by pins 20 to thefraine 14. Limited adjustability of the guide' 11 relative to the grooves G on the rolls 4 isobtained fby adjusting the position of the bolts in the slots 16 and 18, as shownby kthe dotted4 center linesin'Figure '10. lThe frame 14 is movable valong anchoring grooves 21 in the bed plate 13'by the manipulation of anchoring bolts 22. Y 1

. From the'guide 11 the material traverses Va curvedy leg or section 23 oft-he repeater.

The section 23 is curvedl through substantial-V lv 90 degrees for turning the material from the rolls 4 at substantially right angles to its direction when discharged from the rolls f 4. 'The' section 23 is supported at one end by'its integral flange 19, and'at the other end it is inserted linto the next repeater section 24. Thev repeatergsections- 23 and 24 i are directly secured together by a bolt 25 extending through ears 26 and 27A carried by the sections 23 and 24, respectively. lThe sect-ion 24 is secured by bolts 28 to a frame 29 which in turn is secured by anchoring bolts 3() to slots 31 formed Yin-a` bed plate is open while the outer' edgev is provided Accordingly, the 1 with a wall 34 having an outwardly oliset portion 35 adjacent to the flange 19 for initiating a whipping or snapping movement of the material when escaping from the repeater. In the event that the material traversingV thev repeater tends to exert a backpressure Vupon the wall 34, a loop starts to form-in the portion 35, which loop escapes from the section at the .oifset .portion 35.

Referring .to Figures' 5to59, inclusive, the lsection '24 tapers in Vthe direction.ofmovement of thematerial through'the repeater. It is removable and constitutes the base of the U formed. by the repeater. It is provided with a hood or apron'36 that extends upwardly and outwardly vfroin-fthebase thereof for yconfiningiand. guiding the material 4while enteringland :initially traversing the section.- The outer edge of the section 24-is Vprovided with aninwardly tapered flange 37 that serves to overhang-tand confine rod Vor wire. v

A slot-39 is provided between-the upper edge of ltheflange-37 and the outer-edge of the apron 36, threughywhichthe material 38 may escape, as hereinafter described. T he small or discharge end of the section24 over- -lies a forward edgeV ofaa curved `repeater section-40.. v f

The'length of the section-'24 may vary` in accordance withv the desired spacing between the sections 23 and 40 to-conformto the combination of grooves 6 iii use between the rolls 4 and 5 A section 24a, shorter than'tlie section 24, is shownin Fig.y 6.A A plurality of sections 'of different length are provided for rapid insertion between lthe lsections '23 and 40. in .accordance with desired changes in -groovecombinations during the. operation of the mill.

a bolt 41,` andby a bolt 42 extending-between ears 44 and `45 formedon thesections 24 and 40,-respectively-v Thefsect'ion; 40' is, in turn, supported. by .a fr`ame 46asecured to a-,bed

The section 24 is seeuredtov section .40 by plate-`47 by anchoringbolts 48., Ay boltz49 extends through the section 40 and the-framel 46. A bolt50'also secures the section 40 kto thelframe46. f The section-40 is provided with ia continuous outer wall 51 and `afbevelled-portionl 52 `for guiding the vmaterialdischarged from the section 24. The other end of the section 401is1supportedbyiaflange 54 on a frame flange54, framegand-bed plate, except las tolieight-,f'aresiniilar-tofthose .of the flange 19; frame-'14 and bedplate 13, respectively.

A discharge guide 57 is adjustablysmounted on'sth'e iange 541rby bolts-58 and slots 59, correspondingfto the :bolts .15 and fslots 16 of: guidell, respectively.v However, the mouth' 60 of theguide 57 isrelativelywide andV extends-on both sides oftlie wall 51 a suflicient distance tozpermithe:material '55"and bed-.plate56r- Thevconstruction of to enter it from either the inside or the outsidc of the wall 51. The discharge end of the guide 57 cooperates with a stripping and guiding device T associated with the rolls 5. The repeater 2 is movable as a unit by loosening the bolts securing the several frame sections to the bed plates 13, 32 and 56, respectively.

Referring to Figure 3,'the repeater is illustrated sloping upwardly for raising the material from a lower pass of the rolls 4 to an upper pass of the rolls 5, although it is to be understood that the elevation of the repeater may be modilied as desired without departing from the scope of the invention.

Wvlien a loop of material escapes from the offset section 35, it tends to travel rapidly along the top of the wall 34 and through the slot 39 in the forward direction of material movement. This escaping movement is sufficient to snap or whip the material from the dotted line position in the repeater, and cause it to assume the dot and dash line position shown in Figure l. The material then enters the guide 57 through the mouth 60, externally of the wall 5l on the section 40.

F ending and bracing bars 62 are mounted at spaced intervals along the outer surface of the repeater for guiding material when looped outside of the repeater. The bars also fend the material 38 away from the bed plates and frames, thereby protecting them. yThe bolts 25 and 42 are utilized for supporting the bars 62, and additional securing devices 64 are provided at other points along the outer circumference of the repeater for the attachment-of other guide rods. The outer ends of the rods 62 are permitted to rest on the ground.

Vhile I have illustrated and described certain preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that various changes may be made in the invention without dea parting from the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

l. In a repeater for a rolling mill, a plurality of sections for conducting material between sets of rolls, means permitting the escape of material from the sections, and inclined fending bars for protecting the sections from the escaped material.

2. In a repeater for a rolling mill, a plurality of relatively movable guiding sections, and a section insertible between said sections and having a hooded passageway with a slot formed therein for the escape of material traversing the repeater.

3. In a repeater for a rolling mill, a plurality of sections having ears formed thereon, means for supporting the sections, in a vertical direction, and bracing bars connected to certain of said ears and extending therefrom at an angle for supporting said sections in a horizontal direction.

4. The combination with a plurality of rolls each having a plurality of grooves, of a repeater comprising a body portion formed of sections adjustable relatively to each other and to said rolls and permitting the substitution of sections of different lengths to vary the span of the repeater, and conducting guides pivotally mounted for adjustment at each extremity of the body portion of the repeater.

-5. In a repeater for a rolling mill, a' conductor for directing material in a loop from one to another roll pass, the conductor being provided with an opening to permit the material to escape outwardly, and inclined fendingmeans extending downwardly and outwardly from the conductor.

In testimony whereof I have here-unto set my hand.

LANE JOHNSON. 

